My understanding is that’s literally what a big chunk of North America looks like at night, when viewed from space with a sufficiently long camera exposure. This specific image may be composed of many exposures, but it’s not a cartogram or something; it’s a composite photograph.
Mostly you’re seeing electric lighting, which is clustered around places where people live and have the resources to light up their buildings and streets – so that people can see, drive, and be safe at night.
My understanding is that’s literally what a big chunk of North America looks like at night, when viewed from space with a sufficiently long camera exposure. This specific image may be composed of many exposures, but it’s not a cartogram or something; it’s a composite photograph.
Mostly you’re seeing electric lighting, which is clustered around places where people live and have the resources to light up their buildings and streets – so that people can see, drive, and be safe at night.
It kinda shows the dominance humans have over the planet. We affect nearly every part of it. Nearly everything is light up by our lights.
To the point where it’s visible from space. From space, it’s as if we have altered all of the night’s topography.
Thanks